Bloody Sunrise: A Zombie Apocalypse Romance

by Gwendolyn Harper

  “Shit.”

  Fight or flight kicked in, and she scrambled to get out of the car and grab her bag.

  “Geeks,” she hissed at him, starting to run.

  Booker grabbed her wrist, pulling her back. “Hold on, it’s just four of ‘em.”

  “Just four?”

  He rolled his eyes and released her, reaching behind him for a large knife tucked in his belt. She hadn’t even seen that before.

  Leaning his rifle against the car, he slowly walked to the curb, sizing up each zombie and figuring out the best plan of attack. They were trudging forward, spaced out enough that he could take out one at a time.

  And he did.

  Blocking their grotesque hands and rotten mouths, Booker stabbed each Geek thru the eye, killing it instantly. The man barely broke a sweat.

  When he was done, he fished a rag out of his jeans pocket and wiped his knife down.

  Caitlin stared, wide eyed. “Holy shit.”

  She heard him chuckle, but his back was still to her. “See? I told you. Safety in…” He turned to look at her and froze. “Aw shit.”

  Caitlin’s head whipped around to see whatever was behind her.

  A herd. At least thirty Geeks emerging from the trees behind the row of houses.

  “Oh my God,” she gasped, immediately going for Booker’s rifle.

  He started jogging towards her. “C’mon,” he said, taking the gun from her.

  “Got a plan for those?”

  “Yeah. Run.”

  They were halfway down the street before she realized they’d grabbed each other’s hands and hadn’t let go.

  They kept running until Booker tugged her wrist, slowing her before they got to a busted-up Nissan sedan.

  “This yours?” She asked, panic making her voice higher.

  “Is now.” Opening the driver’s door, he hit the unlock button. “Get in.”

  She didn’t argue.

  The screwdriver he’d used to start it was still in the ignition. Turns out she wasn’t the only carjacker.

  They closed the doors just as the herd reached the corner.

  “Go, go, go,” Caitlin urged.

  “Tryin’, sweetheart.”

  The engine revved and he threw it into reverse, flooring it to get out of the neighborhood. They flew passed a few stray Geeks stumbling around in some hedges, sluggish, decaying arms reaching out for them fruitlessly.

  She waited a full minute to exhale.

  “So… about that safety in numbers thing…”

  Booker glanced at her. “I’ll be Thelma. You be Louise.”

  “Deal.”

  ***

  It was unfair, she thought as they drove down Alabama backroads. That thick, chocolate brown hair and eyes to match, the strong jaw and broad chest… Unfair it all had to belong to a man so fucking annoying.

  “Would you just—”

  “Listen darlin’ I know my way around—”

  “Call me darlin’ one more time and I’ll—”

  “What? You’ll what?” He smirked, shifting his hand on the wheel so that he was basically driving with his wrist.

  Such a typical alpha male pose. It made her want to clock him on principal.

  “I should have tripped you and let the Geeks eat you.”

  Booker laughed, the deep rumbling sound filling the car. “Now that would’ve surprised the hell outta me. Too bad you ain’t got it in you.”

  “Oh yeah? Test me, hot shot. I’ll put your ass down.”

  He was still chuckling as he said, “Got some fire in you, huh Meadows.”

  It took all her strength not to reach over and smack him. Inhaling and exhaling a few times to steady herself, she waited until he seemed more receptive before speaking.

  “I just think heading towards the highway would offer more chances to get supplies. I’ve seen tons of abandoned cars on the bridges and I bet people left all kinds of stuff we could use.”

  Booker nodded slowly. “Uh huh. Did you come up that way?”

  She shook her head. “No, I came from…” She looked out the window, trying to get her bearings. “Uh… southwest? No. Southeast.”

  “We need t’get you a compass.”

  “So I wasn’t a Girl Scout, sue me.”

  “That highway you saw? The one with the cars on the bridge? I saw it too. And it’s crawlin’ with groaners. People that got gnawed on in their cars all turned and joined the herd.”

  She glared at him. “Well you could have just said that.”

  “I tried but you—”

  “No, you just brushed me off and said, ‘now little lady, I know where I’m going’.”

  “I did not call you ‘little lady’.”

  “Well you used some other condescending term and—”

  “Darlin’ is a term of endearment where I come from. Goddamn, all you Yanks gotta take offense at everything.”

  Waving her hand out, she snapped, “Look, I’m sorry if you’re still pissed we won the war, but—”

  Booker nearly twisted in half to look at her, aghast. “This is not some deep seated, genetic grudge about the Civil War, are you nuts?”

  “You called me a Yankee!”

  “E’r’ybody above the Mason Dixon is a Yank, okay, that don’t mean nothin’!”

  “Would you please watch the road??”

  He gestured towards the windshield. “Oh yeah, ‘cause the traffic is so heavy durin’ rush hour now.”

  “Booker, I swear to God!”

  “Fine!” He turned back to stare out the front, inhaling deeply. His cheeks puffed out as he blew his breath and he tapped his thumbs on the wheel. “Alright, let’s start over.”

  “Fine.”

  “Okay.” He paused a moment before saying, “That highway, while yes, might have supplies, is overrun. It’s too risky, especially since you don’t know how to fight.”

  “Hey.”

  “No, no, I’m not insinuatin’ anythin’, I’m just sayin’ it’s clear you’re a runner, not a fighter. Right?”

  Caitlin let her silence be her answer.

  Booker nodded. “Right, okay. So, if we came up on a herd larger than… well, I’d say about ten is my limit. So, a herd larger than ten, and we’re screwed worse than a coon up a tree.”

  “That sounds vaguely racist.”

  “A raccoon. Jesus Christ…” He scrubbed his palm over his face. “We said safety in numbers, right? Well what happens if I get gutted by a bunch of groaners?”

  “I’d have some peace and quiet in this goddamn car, that’s for sure.”

  She thought Booker would get pissed but instead he just laughed.

  “Yeah, well, besides that. You’d be without a gunman. So…”

  Caitlin was quiet for a few moments, watching the fields and patches of trees go by. Then she looked over at him.

  “Do I need to be concerned with how easy killing Geeks is for you?”

  “They’re not human. Not anymore.”

  “No, I mean, how skilled you are. Clearly you know your way around a rifle.”

  “Yup.”

  “But that knife trick? That was cold blooded.”

  Booker shook his head. “It’s efficient and usually pretty quiet.”

  She waited for him to explain how he learned to do something like that, but he just continued staring out the windshield, steering with his wrist.

  “Were you a cop?” She asked finally.

  “Nope.”

  “Serial killer?”

  He glanced at her, almost offended. “No.”

  “Just covering both sides of the spectrum here.”

  Booker was silent as he rolled up the right sleeve of his plaid shirt, exposing a tattoo on the inside of his forearm. Stretching his arm so she could see, he nodded.

  Caitlin reached for him without thinking, holding him firmly as she looked down at the Marine Corps tattoo.

  “You’re a Marine?”

  “Was.”

  “Past tense. Got it
.” She kept staring, kept holding his arm, until she realized what she was doing and let him go. “Surprised you didn’t get called back into service with the world ending and all.”

  Booker grunted, a noise she hadn’t heard him make before, and looked out his window. “Already had a job when shit hit the fan.”

  “Cryptic. Alright then…” Caitlin slumped in her seat. “Okay Marine—”

  “Booker is just fine.”

  “’Kay… Booker. So, if we’re not going to the highway, where are we going?”

  He hummed, shifting a little in his seat. “Well… We’re a couple hours to Tuscaloosa… I don’t recommend getting too close to the city ‘cause of the groaner population, but the suburbs around it might have places to scavenge.”

  “Tuscaloosa.” She cocked her head, staring at him. “That’s west.”

  “Maybe we don’t need to find you a compass after all.”

  “I told you I’m heading north. You even agreed—”

  “Yeah, but we can’t go as the crow flies. Gotta find a clear roadway. And that’ll take time. And time means we’ll need supplies.”

  She felt herself lose any desire to argue as exhaustion enveloped her. “Fine Booker, that’s… fine.” She yawned into her hand and caught him looking at her.

  “Lever on the side there’ll lean the seat back.”

  She almost rolled her eyes. “I know how seats work.”

  “Alright, just sayin’…”

  Caitlin yawned again, eyelids drooping. The sun was shining in her face, and the warmth only made her sleepier.

  “G’head,” Booker said, voice suddenly very soothing. “Get some sleep while you can.”

  “Kinda unfair… with you driving.”

  “Nah, I’m golden. You sleep.”

  She worked the lever for her seat, leaning back just enough that her head wouldn’t slump uncomfortably. “If you decide to murder me in my sleep, just make it quick.”

  He chuckled. “Will do, Meadows.”

  She fell asleep to the drone of the engine and Booker faintly humming a Willie Nelson song.

  Chapter Five

  Caitlin awoke with a jerk, arms flailing up. “What?”

  “Rise and shine, darlin’,” Booker’s voice called from outside the car.

  Where was he? She couldn’t see him…

  Twisting in her seat, Caitlin blearily peered through the windows and back windshield. Booker was standing at the trunk—him closing it must’ve been what woke her—unfolding a map.

  Fumbling with her seatbelt, she opened the car door. “What’s going on?”

  “Ran outta gas,” Booker said, still staring at his map. “We’re not far from a few places to syphon—neighborhoods, parking lots, that sorta thing. But we’ll have to hoof it.”

  Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she squinted at him in the setting sun. “It’s almost dark.”

  “Got a couple more hours of light.”

  “Which we should use to set up camp.”

  “Camp?” Booker chuckled. “Y’mean rolling a couple blankets out on the back seat?”

  “You don’t have a tent?”

  “Sure I do, but I’m not planning on settin’ that up on the side of the road for one night’s stay.”

  Caitlin sighed. She should have stayed asleep. “Alright, fine.”

  “Not gonna argue?” He glanced up at her. “Color me shocked.”

  “I’m groggy. Give me a couple minutes and I’ll be back to my verbal sparring self.”

  She stood up and stretched, glancing around. “Where are we?”

  “About forty minutes outside of ‘If I lived here, I’d have a drinkin’ problem’.”

  She laughed, his joke catching her off guard. She turned, still grinning, to look at him and spotted the delight in his eyes before he focused on the map again.

  “Strip mall is closest. About a twenty-minute walk from here. If we hurry, we’ll be back with plenty of daylight left.”

  “Think we can look for food too? My supply is low.”

  Booker nodded, folding up the map and shoving it into his back pocket. “We’ll get ya sorted. C’mon.”

  He grabbed up his pack, a couple gas cans, and his rifle from the back seat and started walking.

  Caitlin gathered her stuff from the car, refusing to leave her meager belongings unguarded.

  The first few minutes were quiet as Booker navigated them to a fork in the road and took the right branch. The area was pretty barren, save for a few patches of trees and occasional house or barn. Everything was deserted from what she could tell, houses boarded up and left in a hurry. They found a John Deere tractor in someone’s yard and Booker wasted no time syphoning the tank.

  It was humid and sticky, sweat making her clothes cling to her uncomfortably. But she had to admit, the vastness, the open fields of crops gone unpicked, the lack of Geeks… It was enough to give her mind a reprieve from the horrible truth of the world, even for a moment or two.

  “Were you with anyone before?” The question flew from her mouth as she stared at a light pole nearly covered in kudzu.

  “With?”

  “Like a group. People other than yourself?”

  From a few paces ahead of her, she could see him shake his head. “Nope.”

  “Not even family? Or friends?”

  “Most of my family was gone long before groaners started walkin’ the earth. And my buddies all have families of their own to take care of. So, it’s just me.”

  Caitlin nodded. “And you’re not married.” It was a statement, not a question.

  “Y’don’t think I could be married?” Booker glanced over his shoulder at her, smirking.

  “No ring, or tan line from where a ring used to be,” she said. “You’re not concerned about being somewhere soon, which means no one is waiting for you, and you decided to hitch up with me, so…”

  “Observant,” he said, tone more impressed than his face would let on. “And you? Y’got someone waitin’ on you in New York?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not married.” Then she remembered… “Well. There’s a guy.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. His name is Nathaniel.” She paused, brow furrowing. “Or… was Nathaniel. I don’t know.” She stared up at the side of Booker’s head. “Do we use past tense or present for people now? I don’t know if he’s alive or not… And it’s not like I can call him.”

  He didn’t turn his head, but his eyes darted over as he said, “I guess you use whatever makes it easier to keep going.”

  It was a surprisingly wise statement from a man with a Lynyrd Skynyrd patch on his backpack.

  After a moment, she said, “Nathaniel’s nice. He’s sweet. He’s a fireman.”

  “Dreamy,” Booker teased.

  “I know, it’s almost cliché. And I’ve never been the type.”

  “Type t’what?”

  “Date a fireman. Date any stereotypically masculine guy. I usually go for nerds in comic tee shirts or software developers. Give me a guy with glasses and an obsession with PlayStation and I’m putty.”

  “Please tell me you’re jokin’.”

  “No, I’m serious,” she urged. “Something about a smart, kinda awkward guy… I dunno, they’re just dolls.”

  “Nah, they’re still assholes, they’re just skinny assholes with carpal tunnel.”

  “Excuse me—”

  “Trust me, you get yourself an IT nerd, and they’re comin’ with a decade or two of baggage from bein’ bullied, never bein’ popular, always bein’ ‘just a friend’ and never gettin’ laid. And then if’n’when they manage to get themselves a girl—or guy—they don’t have any idea how to treat them ‘cause they’re flesh and blood and not some CGI wet dream.”

  “You sound like you got dumped by an IT nerd.”

  Booker chuckled. “Nah, just dealt with enough of ‘em. Served with a couple too.”

  “IT Marines?”

  “Made officer straight outta school and didn
’t have any clue about service.”

  “I think you’re making a lot of broad generalizations.”

  “Just like you did about firemen?” He glanced at her, smirking.

  Caitlin faltered. “Well… I have plenty of evidence to back up my theory.”

  “’N I got a lotta evidence to back up mine.”

  She huffed, disliking the stalemate she’d found herself in. Before she could come up with another statement, Booker spoke.

  “So, this Nathaniel… Is it serious?”

  She smiled at his use of present tense for her benefit. “Uh, well…”

  “Take that as a no.”

  “It’s not a no. It’s an ‘I don’t know’.”

  “If ya know, ya know.”

  “I can’t make a life altering decision like marriage after just six months of dating.”

  Booker made a noise like sucking his tongue over his teeth. “I think if ya find the right person, you feel it. You know. Time ain’t got nothin’ to do with it.”

  “That’s impractical. You have to know if they’re good with things like… Bills. How are they with money? Are they a Democrat or Republican? Do they put their dishes in the sink or directly into the dishwasher?”

  “None of that matters,” he said, guiding them left, down a different yet still desolate road. “Bein’ with someone, really with ‘em, it’s all about how you work together. Ya gotta make a good team. It don’t matter if they’re the same religion or if they vote the same. Hell, it don’t even matter if they hog the blankets and kick ya in their sleep—”

  “Clearly you’ve never slept with a blanket hog. It is absolutely a make or break thing.”

  “All that matters is having each other’s backs. Bein’ on the same team. Even if you’re buttin’ heads all the damn time, as long as at the end of the day you want the best for each other, that’s what matters.”

  Caitlin scoffed. “Says the guy who’s never been married.”

  He laughed quietly, looking over at her. “Nah, but my parents were. Forty years. Never spent more than a night apart.”

  “Wow,” she breathed. “That’s… Nice. Really.” She stared at the ground. “You’re lucky you grew up with that.”

  Booker nodded. “They were good people. Honest. Loved me with everything they had.”

  “And they’re… no longer with us?”